Let’s Support Our Communities

Making a Difference with Meals Per Hour

When a food bank needed help getting more meals to those in need after Superstorm Sandy, we shared our manufacturing know-how to help optimize their operations. Then we used the support of viewers like you to help us donate a million meals.

Let’s support a cleaner road ahead

Local conservation that benefits us all

What do artists, ranchers, interfaith groups, healthcare workers, the hearing impaired, and Iraq war veterans have in common? They are just a few of the half a million individuals that have united through Toyota TogetherGreen.

We partnered with Audubon to create Toyota TogetherGreen to support the conservation movement and cultivate passion for local outreach. In six years, we’ve created a network of environmental advocates and powerful conservation initiatives across all 50 states.

In order to create positive change, we work closely with inspiring environmental organizations. Some of these key partnerships include:

Toyota TogetherGreen

Since 2008, our Toyota TogetherGreen partnership with the Audobon Society has cultivated the next generation of environmental leaders, funded innovative conservation projects and encouraged greater environmental awareness across all 50 states.

Public Lands Day

Taking a hands-on approach as the national corporate sponsor for National Public Lands Day, thousands of Toyota volunteers come together to restore, refurbish and rehabilitate public lands ranging from national parks to local forests and beaches.

Wyland Foundation

Supporting a resource that supports all of us—that’s the driving force behind the National Mayor’s Challenge for Water Conservation, a competition in which mayors inspire their citizens to conserve water.

Education Outreach

Fueling the future

How can we ensure that students get their best opportunity to succeed? By supporting critical math & science programs, working with organizations who believe in promoting family literacy, and awarding scholarships to promising students. And through these close partnerships, we can help enrich lives locally while building a better future for all.

Toyota USA Foundation

We’ve endowed a $100 million to enhance the quality of education by supporting innovative programs dedicated to improving the teaching and learning of science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

Nurturing a love of math, science and the environment

The world needs as many scientists, math whizzes and environmental stewards as it can get. That’s why Toyota supports innovative K-12 science, math and environmental educational programs in schools across the U.S., with a special focus on diverse and underserved communities. One example is a program created in partnership with The Nature Conservancy called Leaders in Environmental Action for the Future (LEAF). Supported by a grant from the Toyota USA Foundation, LEAF offers high school students paid summer internships on a wide range of conservancy projects. The program has grown significantly over time, with interns now working and learning in 22 states.

Helping families go from A to B – and beyond

The National Center for Family Literacy (NCFL) began with one small center and one big idea: that parents and children who learn together improve their reading skills faster than being taught separately. For over 20 years, Toyota has helped NCFL build on that wonderful idea by providing needed funding and organizational guidance. In 2003, Toyota and NCFL created the Toyota Family Learning Program, which helps non-native English-speaking families improve their language skills.

A student’s most important destination: graduation day

The road to success begins with education. That’s why we’re battling the school dropout crisis with more than $3 million a year toward youth education with our Diplomas to Degrees (D2D) program. D2D delivers needed funding while engaging our associate volunteers with local Boys & Girls Clubs throughout the U.S. We’ve also partnered with the Boys & Girls Clubs of America to support a range of enrichment programs for underserved youth, including before- and after-school programs, mentorships for high-school students and a $1 million college scholarship program.

Toyota International Teacher Program

The Toyota International Teacher Program, developed in partnership with the Institute of International Education, sends U.S. secondary school teachers on two-to-three week environmental study tours in countries around the world.

Safety Initiatives

Buckle Up for Life

We teamed with Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center to create Buckle Up for Life: A 6-week training program that provides safety education – and even child car seats for families in need – to parents, caregivers and children.

Let’s build a safe world together

Driver to passenger, infant to adult, everyone, everywhere, deserves to be safe. With our Go Safely initiative, we provide safety tools to families and help educate drivers of all ages on safe driving practices. Just another way we work together in communities across the country to ensure that mile by mile, day by day, safety is always in focus.

Buckle Up for Life: helping families ride safe

When research showed that three out of every four child car seats were being installed incorrectly, we had to respond. Partnering with experts at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, we helped create Buckle Up for Life, a program that educated the entire family on critical behaviors—like always buckling up, and how to install a car seat the right way.

And because of the program’s real results—in one city alone, proper use of child car seats by program participants nearly tripled. Even better, the program has now expanded to cities all across the U.S. That’s a lot of families riding safely.

Quick Safety Tip

Let’s help new drivers become safe drivers

It’s a fact that a teenager’s first year of driving will be one of the most dangerous years of their life.

And it’s also a fact that teens get most of their driving habits, good and bad, from their parents. Which is why we created TeenDrive365TM. With a collection of resources, online tools, safe driving tips, the Mutual Driving Agreement and special teen driver events across the country, it’s our goal to help you achieve yours: guiding your teen through that first critical year behind the wheel, as well as a lifetime of safe driving.

Quick Safety Tip

Helping mature drivers stay sharp

Making the roads we all share safe for drivers of all ages. It’s why we’re proud sponsors of AARP’s Driver Safety Program, the nation’s first and largest driver safety course designed specifically for drivers age 50 and over.

Every year, thousands of mature drivers participate in the program both online and in classrooms in all 50 states to keep their driving skills sharp and up-to-date and usually are rewarded with a reduced rate on their insurance. And that’s a good thing. Because the better we all drive, the more safe we all are.

Quick Safety Tip

Sharing our knowledge to advance safety for all

Advancements in safety research are too important not to share. Along with continually searching for ways to make safe vehicles, we look to apply our safety insights for the benefit of everyone. And a big part of this commitment is our Collaborative Safety Research Center (CSRC). It’s a state-of-the-art facility that makes our knowledge and our technology readily available to researchers from major universities and safety institutes—and even other companies in the automotive industry. One current focus at CSRC is to find ways we can make cars safe for people at each stage of life—from infants, to teens, to mature drivers. Creating safe cars is a good thing. Creating a safe society, even better.

SADD

Students Against Destructive Decisions (SADD) – provide students with the best prevention tools possible to deal with the issues of underage drinking, other drug use, risky and impaired driving, and other destructive decisions.

Discovery Education

We teamed up with Discovery Education to create Toyota Teen Driver, a comprehensive program designed to help teens avoid distractions and stay safe behind the wheel. Toyota Teen Driver offers a range of tools designed specifically for the people who can have the greatest impact on a teens driving: educators, parents, and the teens themselves.

Local Support

Connecting process, purpose, and people

Whether it’s optimizing meal production for those in need, organizing volunteers to rebuild hurricane damaged homes or providing vehicles that improve a nonprofit’s day-to-day operations, we’re always looking to help bring out the best in our communities. It’s why we’re proud to have helped unlock the potential of organizations who believe that great things are possible when good ideas are shared.

Meals Per Hour

Making a difference, one meal at a time

That’s when the Toyota Production System Support Center (TSSC) stepped in. Using our Toyota Production System, we worked together with Food Bank For New York City to optimize operations in one of the hardest hit areas, allowing them to serve more people in less time.

By working together and making small changes to Food Bank’s processes, more meals were able to be packed on each delivery truck (from 864 to 1,260), box packing time went from 3 minutes to just 11 seconds and box distribution time was cut in half, which meant that Food Bank was able to feed 400 more families in half the time.

The entire project was turned into a short documentary called Meals Per Hour, and for every view of the film, we donated a meal to Food Bank to help those in need. In just a few weeks, we met our goal of 1 million meals!

American Red Cross

Helping those who help others

Imagine this – a disaster happens and thousands of people want to help immediately and in a meaningful way. How do you process, train and deploy large numbers of people who want to do good? That’s when the American Red Cross invited Toyota to share ideas using the Toyota Production System to help tackle this challenge. Our Toyota Production System Support Center (TSSC) in collaboration with the American Red Cross helped incorporate event-based volunteer training (onsite training for a specific job) to maximize volunteer impact in disaster sites and improve the personal experiences of volunteers.

By sharing our knowledge, we were able to help streamline registration of event-based volunteers from 45 minutes to 15 minutes, training of event-based volunteers was cut from 2 ½ hours to 15 minutes, cot construction was cut from 5 minutes per cot to 1.4 minutes, and most importantly, volunteers are deployed into areas of need much faster.

St. Bernard Project

Reorganizing a rebuilding ofNew Orleans

After Hurricane Katrina, the St. Bernard Project brought together a volunteer network to help rehabilitate thousands of homes still damaged from the storm. The only problem was that they needed a better way to organize and schedule hundreds of volunteers and contractors in a timely manner, while ensuring that the homes were built with high quality and in the shortest amount of time possible.

That’s when the Toyota Production System Support Center (TSSC) shared the key philosophies of our Toyota Production System (TPS). After implementation, home rebuilds went from an average of 116 days to a remarkable 60 days (a 48% improvement), the number of homes rebuilt per month jumped from 8.6 to 12.8 and ultimately, more New Orleans residents were able to return home faster than before. Learn More

Herman Miller

Helping a U.S. furniture maker get into gear

Iconic furniture maker Herman Miller had a challenge in its hands : customer demand for their three-drawer pedestal metal filing cabinet was changing, requiring dramatically shorter lead times and lower prices. That’s when they invited us into their organization.

With the help of key philosophies from the Toyota Production System (TPS), the Toyota Production System Support Center (TSSC) helped Herman Miller strengthen their operations. In a short time, the assembly line went from producing 6,000 pedestal cabinets a week with multiple lines and shifts to 8,000 units a week with only one line and two shifts this meant that the additional employees could be re-assigned to other areas within the company to work on continuous improvement and new business. The results were so impressive that the entire Herman Miller organization adopted TPS as its sole management and manufacturing process, calling it the Herman Miller Performance System.

Social media for social change

100 cars. 100 worthy nonprofits. One goal: to help create the most good, where it’s needed most. With that goal in mind, we’ve looked to our Facebook community help us find nonprofit organizations that could do the most good with a new vehicle.

After an initial call for entries, nominees are given a camera to document their cause and create an online profile to solicit votes. And every day for a 50-day period, the charity that receives the most Facebook votes gets a Toyota to advance their good works even further.

By listening to the philanthropic voices of our social media community, we’re proud to have helped extend the reach and improve the efficiency of nonprofits eager to go places and perform good works throughout the country.

Grant Guidelines & Applications

Overview & Guidelines

Mission

Toyota's national corporate giving program supports organizations focused on three main areas: the environment, education and vehicle safety. We also have a strong commitment to strengthening opportunities for diverse and underserved populations, helping during times of disaster, and supporting organizations that meet the needs of local communities across the U.S. This page describes the guidelines for our national corporate giving program. To see how we're engaging and supporting Texas communities, click here.

The Toyota USA Foundation is a separate giving program that funds education programs for K‐12 in math, science and education. For a description of the Foundation program and our partners, click here. For the Foundation guidelines and application, click here.

Guidelines

Organizations must apply for each new grant requested, and subsequent funding is contingent upon evaluation of previous activities.

Limitations

Toyota does not make grants for publications, lobbying activities, advertising, capital campaigns or endowments. Individuals are ineligible to apply. Toyota will not make grants to the following types of organizations:

Those not recognized as charitable by the Internal Revenue Service

Those that practice discrimination by race, creed, color, sex, age or national origin

Those that serve only their own memberships, such as fraternal organizations, labor organizations or religious groups

Political parties or candidates

Geographic and Funding Guidelines

Nationally, Toyota focuses in 3 areas: environment, vehicle safety and education. National programs in these areas must have a broad reach by impacting several major U.S. cities, communities or groups.

Regionally, Toyota makes contributions to help support the specific needs of local communities.

Apply for a Grant

If your organization meets any of our geographic and funding missions as well as the general limitations, please use our online tool to apply for funding.

Have a Question?

Email Us

We're glad you are interested in applying for a grant from Toyota. Here is everything you need to know:

STEP 1:

Carefully review our eligibility criteria and selection guidelines. This is an

essential step in determining whether you should take the time to prepare

a grant proposal. The eligibility criteria and selection guidelines are on the

Apply for a Grant page.

Carefully review our eligibility criteria and selection guidelines. This is an essential step in determining whether you should take the time to prepare a grant proposal. The eligibility criteria and selection guidelines are on the Apply for a Grant page.

STEP 2:

Prepare and submit your proposal using our online application. You can begin an application here. If this is the first time you have applied for a Toyota grant, our Grant Application Portal will require that you register your email address. Once you are registered, you can start your application. You can always print your application as you work on it, and you can save it and resume it at a later time.

Toyota only accepts proposals through our Grant Application Portal. We recommend that you review the application questions and prepare your best description of your proposal in that framework. You can save and print your proposal at any time before or after submitting it to Toyota.

STEP 3:

Our automated system will confirm your submitted proposal has been received at Toyota. If you do not receive email confirmation of your submission, you may contact us at ToyotaPhilanthropy@toyota.com.

STEP 4:

It can take up to 6 months to review and evaluate a proposal. Please do not contact us by phone or by email to ask about the status of your application. Due to the volume of inquiries, we cannot respond individually to requests for status.

STEP 5:

We will advise you by email if your proposal has been approved or declined. If your application is approved, we will follow up with your organization. Due to the volume of inquiries, we cannot respond individually to those not selected for further consideration.

Email Us

Frequently Asked Questions

Eligibility

Toyota's national corporate giving program supports charitable non-profit organizations that are recognized by the IRS. We also support State or Municipal Organizations and Public Schools.

The Toyota USA Foundation is a separate giving program with more restrictive guidelines.

Toyota and the Toyota USA Foundation do not make grants to the following types of organizations:

Those not recognized as charitable organizations by the Internal Revenue Service

Those that practice discrimination by race, creed, color, sex, age or national origin

Those that serve only their own memberships, such as fraternal organizations, labor organizations or religious groups

Athletic/sports teams

Political parties or candidates

We have additional guidelines for the programs or events we will support. The guidelines for our national giving program are here, and guidelines for the Toyota USA Foundation are here. Please review the guideline pages carefully – they are slightly different. If your organization and program meet the guidelines outlined on either page, you can apply for a grant from the link at the bottom of the page.

Does Toyota award grants to organizations based outside the United States?

Toyota does not grant to organizations outside the United States.

What is not funded by Toyota?

Toyota does not make grants for publications, lobbying activities, advertising, capital campaigns or endowments. Individuals are ineligible to apply.

Organizations are limited to one grant within a twelve month period.

Toyota does not make grants to the following types of organizations:

Those not recognized as charitable organizations by the Internal Revenue Service

Those that practice discrimination by race, creed, color, sex, age or national origin

Those that serve only their own memberships, such as fraternal organizations, labor organizations or religious groups

Athletic/sports teams

Political parties or candidates

I am raising money for a cause. Am I eligible for a grant?

Toyota makes grants to organizations directly rather than through individual fundraising activities; therefore, we are unable to fund your effort.

Applying for a grant

Step by step, how do I apply for a grant?

We’re glad you are interested in applying for a grant from Toyota. Here is everything you need to know:

STEP 1:

Carefully review our eligibility criteria and selection guidelines. This is an essential step in determining whether you should take the time to prepare a grant proposal. The eligibility criteria and selection guidelines are on the Toyota Philanthropy Guidelines page

STEP 2:

Prepare and submit your proposal using our online application. You can begin an application here. If this is the first time you have applied to us for a grant, our Grant Application Portal will require that you register your email address. Once you are registered, you can start your application. You can always print your application as you work on it, and you can save it and resume it at a later time.

Toyota only accepts proposals through our Grant Application Portal. We recommend that you review the application questions and prepare your best description of your proposal in that framework. You can save and print your proposal at any time before or after submitting it to Toyota.

STEP 3:

Our automated system will confirm your submitted proposal has been received at Toyota. If you do not receive email confirmation of your submission, you may contact us at ToyotaPhilanthropy@Toyota.com

STEP 4:

It can take up to 6 months to review and evaluate a proposal. Please do not contact us by phone or by email to ask about the status of your application. Due to the volume of inquiries, we cannot respond individually to requests for status.

STEP 5:

We will advise you by email if your proposal has been approved or declined. If your application is approved, we will follow up with your organization. Due to the volume of inquiries, we cannot respond individually to those not selected for further consideration.

What information is required when applying for a grant?

We ask you to identify your organization, and describe your program and your participants. Mandatory information on our application form is annotatedwith a red asterisk (*).

If a question is not applicable to your organization, mark “Not Applicable” or type “N/A”.

You can click on the information boxes which help provide specific details and instructions in various text fields.

Once I start my online grant application, how long do I have to complete it and submit it?

You can save your application at any time, so you won’t lose your information. You can return and resume your application later the same day, or any time in the following 30 days. We strongly recommend that you complete and submit your application within 30 days of starting it.

How do I determine which Toyota affiliate should receive my application?

We determine which affiliate will receive your application, based on the information you provide on the application If a Toyota employee has suggested that you apply for a grant, make sure to enter that person’s name, title, and office location.

What are the dates and deadlines for grant applications?

You can refer to deadlines for each of our facilities at the bottom of the How to Apply section.

A facility that does not mention a deadline works on a rolling review schedule.

We do budget funding on an annual basis ending on March 31st of each year, so if your proposal is time-sensitive, we urge you to apply at least 3 months in advance, to allow our staff adequate time to fully consider your application.

Is my application automatically saved once I create an account?

Your application is saved whenever you navigate to a new section (tab) on the form, or if you explicitly save the form for later. You will receive a warning prompt if you did not save your work within the hour. A message will appear alerting you and advise how to save your work A session timeout message will also appear if you have not saved your application in over 8 hours. In that case, the information you entered on the current grant page will be lost. The timeout message will give you instructions to log back into the grant portal.

How do I apply for a grant if I am an existing grantee?

Navigate to the Toyota Grant Application Portal from the Apply for a Grant page and click the link to submit a grant application. The first time you use our Portal, it will prompt you to enroll. Thereafter, you can book-mark that link, or return to the Portal from our Guidelines page.

How do I create a user account?

To create a user account, go to the Apply for a Grant page, and click the link to submit a grant application. Our system will prompt you to enroll with an email address. You should use an email address that is specific to your organization, not your private email.

How do I access an existing account and/or access an incomplete application that I saved but not yet submitted?

Navigate to the Toyota Grant Application Portal from the Apply for a Grant page. Click the link to resume a grant application. The Portal will prompt you to log into your account. Once you logged in, you can resume a pending application from the In Progress list, or you can review prior submissions from the Submitted list.

How do I change existing account information?

Navigate to our online grant application system from the Apply for a Grant page, and click the link to resume a grant application. The Portal will prompt you to log into your account. Once you logged in, you can change your account information by clicking on the link Change E-Mail/Password at the top of the Portal home page.

May I send the application directly to a Toyota representative or another contact at Toyota?

No, Toyota only accepts and reviews applications online.

Can I mail a copy of my grant request for review?

Please do not mail any grant requests. Only online applications will be considered.

I do not know my organization’s Federal Tax ID. How can I find it?

Your Federal Tax Id, also known as your Employer Identification Number (EIN) is a 9 digit number that contains only numbers. Acceptable formats for this number are 123456789 or 12-3456789. Your business office should know your Tax ID.

For questions concerning your organization’s Tax ID status or the specific 501(c) subsection under which your organization is classified, contact the Internal Revenue Service Call Center at 877-829-5500.

I have materials I want to submit along with my request for funding. How do I send them?

There are areas throughout the application where Toyota asks for additional attachments/materials. You can attach your documents in any Office format, or in PDF format.

Unless a Toyota Representative requests additional materials, you should attach only the documents requested.

Is there a limit on space for the program overview description?

No, there are no limits.

I’ve applied for a grant, now what?

Will I receive acknowledgment that Toyota received my online application?

Yes, you will receive an email confirmation when you submit the application, and you will receive a second confirmation when the application is transferred to our internal grants system for consideration.

Should I call to discuss my project concept before submitting my application?

The Apply for a Grant page provides the information you need to determine if our funding priorities and requirements match your needs. Due to the volume of grant requests, we are unable to respond personally to telephoned, faxed, mailed and emailed queries.

Can I get a copy of the online application form?

You will receive a copy of your application before and after you submit your application. You can also print a copy as you are filling out the online application form. Click on the “Printer Friendly Version” link located in the top right hand corner of each application page. You can also log into your account and check under the Submitted Applications section. Select the appropriate application, open it and print.

When will I be contacted about the status of my application?

After you submit your application, you will receive an email confirmation. After an initial review, you may be contacted to provide additional information. Communication will occur via email or letter. After Toyota reviews your application, you will receive notification indicating whether your grant request has been approved or declined. This can take anywhere up to 6 months.

How should I notify Toyota if my email or mailing address changes after I submit my online application?

If your email changes, you should revise your account information in the Toyota Grant Application Portal. Click the link below to Resume a Grant Application.

The Portal will prompt you to log into your account. Once you logged in, you can change your email address by clicking on the link Change E-Mail/Password at the top of the Portal home page.